1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the seating art and, more particularly to an improved portable seating arrangement particularly useful in various outdoor activities ranging from backpacking, camping, mountain climbing and the like, to comfortable seating at stadiums or other locations where more comfort in seating is desired than is provided.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various types of portable seating arrangements have heretofore been made available. One such application for portable seating arrangements is in the mountain climbing, backpacking, and generally outdoor activity fields. As such, such portable seating arrangements are preferably comparatively lightweight and are flexible so that they may be readily folded or rolled into a comparatively compact arrangement. One such portable seating arrangement heretofore available had a flexible cover having a lower layer and an upper layer. The lower layer was continuous from one end to the other. The upper portion was divided along a central line extending between the peripheral edges and a flexible plastic foam pad was removably insertable through the slit in the upper layer. Such a seating arrangement folded along the slit. Rather, large pockets were provided along the lateral peripheral edges of such a prior art seating arrangement and padded rigid members were insertable into the four pockets extending along the lateral edges from openings aligned with the slit in the upper layer. The pad was not bonded to the cover. At the top and bottom of the seating arrangement above described, flaps extending outwardly from the above-mentioned pockets were provided and straps were coupled to these flaps for detachable coupling together so that the back portion of the seating arrangement could move along a fold line towards and away from the seat portion and be restrained in any desired angular position by the strap means, the fold occurring along the above-mentioned slit in the body.
Such portable seating arrangement has not proven to be completely satisfactory. In addition to relative movement between the pad and the cover surrounding the pad, the cover was not air tight and, therefore, could not be inflated and deflated to provide either a comparatively small volume when deflated or greater resistance to compression when inflated. Additionally, the bulk of the padded rigid members extending on the pockets on the lateral edges of the body prevented convenient rolling of the entire unit into a comparative small configuration. Further, there was no reinforcing along the remote ends extending between the lateral edges and, therefore, there was considerable flexing of the back portion and the seat portion when in use because of the forces imposed thereon. Such bending or flexing detracted from the comfort of the unit when so utilized as a seat.
In other prior art arrangements, mats or pads utilized for backpackers, campers, or the like for sleeping have incorporated an open-cell foam inside a body member having an upper layer and a lower layer and the closed-cell foam bonded throughout its extent to the upper layer and lower layer of the body member. Such sleeping pads have also been provided with an air valve to allow air to selectively enter and leave the cavity containing the open-cell foam pad. However, such pads have not been provided with a fold line to allow folding of the pad into a configuration having a back and a seat.
Therefore, there has long been a need for a portable, flexible lightweight seating arrangement that can provide various resistance to the forces imposed thereon, that has an air-tight cavity for retaining a pad and which cavity may be inflated and deflated as desired.
Additionally, it has long been desired to provide a seating arrangement of the type above described in which reinforcing is provided along the remote ends of the seating arrangement at both the back and the seat portions to prevent excessive bending or flexing when in use.